It might be a modern classic – capturing a moment that is just relatable enough to feel familiar and tantalizing, but just foreign enough to remain elusive and provide an escape from reality. I admit that I fully enjoy gay romance novels where the straight guy realizes he may not be as straight as he once believed. As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. The widower – Tanner Rowe – is doing his best to live in his wife’s honor – moving to the farmhouse she had always wanted to buy and trying to start a new life. The convict Cole Lachlan, however, is homeless and without a penny to his name.

Justin Swanscott has three certainties in his life: he’s gay, football is overrated, and he really, really doesn’t like cowboys. But this season may be his toughest yet, when disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw is cast as its star. Ox was twelve when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left. This habit leads to the American teacher questioning and rethinking both his present, past, and future – the state of the world he lives in now and the life that he had constructed about himself, where he is leading himself, and how to move on from his childhood in the south of the US, where being gay was more often a curse than an identity. It is here where we learn more about Mitko as well.

Dakan (1997)

Derek was a man who had been struggling with his orientation for some time and it all came to a head when Maxim moved it. For George is so much more than his academic position and work for a Los Angeles university might convey. George’s partner Jim died suddenly in a tragic car accident not very long ago, and his existence since has been rudimentary at best. He struggles to perform even the simplest social functions. His job has become a daily challenge, and the rest of his days are a minefield of painful memories. With a growing wealth of options out there, there's something for every taste, and every kind of relationship style. From the high school-style squealing of Dear Simon, to the spicier adult themes in Blue is the Warmest Color and Portrait of a Lady on Fire and the sweet, elder gay love showcased in Beginners, these favorites really span the gamut. And that matters, because representation helps young, questioning or isolated LGBTQ+ people feel seen and supported, especially if they can't get that from their own families or community. It also continues to normalize gay, lesbian and queer love, in a time when LGBTQ+ rights are still threatened around the country and the world. This is a gay romance novel that brings in some MMM action if that’s your cup of tea. Why keep things limited to just two men?

It is not lurid or defensive; it treats its subject squarely and forthrightly, revealing many facets of this subculture in a way they had never been revealed before when the novel was published in 1963, even in the novels of Jean Genet.”What about us? Two women, married to each other. Don’t be offended, he says, gravely. But a man with a man, a woman with a woman: it would be a public execution. We nod. A little silence along the Southeast Corridor. Then I say, Yeah, I love my country. This makes him laugh; we all laugh. We aren’t offended, says Josey. We love you. Sometimes I feel like we’re proselytizing, spreading the Word of Gay. The cab is shaking with laughter, the poor man relieved we’re not mad he sort of wants us dead. The two of us soothing him, wanting him comfortable, wanting him to laugh. We love our country, we tell him. And Josey tips him. She tips him well. From Three A.M. by Jill McDonough This book combines two of my most favorite tropes: enemies to lovers and fake relationship. If that’s not a recipe for some intense chemistry for this gay romance novel, I don’t know what is! No matter how hard he tries, he can’t help but put the wrong foot forward in front of the all-business and inconveniently gorgeous heir to the publishing empire. Forty-eight hours with his sister’s best friend in exchange for a meeting with a possible client shouldn’t be too hard. If only Maddox wasn’t so hot and if he didn’t kiss me.